Granules
by amillionsmiles
Summary: "This world is made of so many shining feelings." / Nagi no Asukara drabble dump, based on prompts received. Open to all characters and pairings.
1. don't stand so close

**Prompt:** Jealousy  
**Pairing:** Chisaki/Tsumugu

* * *

"Your girl's here," observes Professor Mihashi.

His student's head snaps up uncharacteristically quickly, the chart spread on the table before them forgotten for a moment. Professor Mihashi follows Tsumugu's carefully neutral gaze to the purple-haired girl standing in the doorway, talking to one of the other students.

"She still live in your house?"

Tsumugu nods and points to a red dot on the map. "And here? Has it started thawing, too?"

"Slightly," answers the professor, "but nearly as quickly as it did in that town of yours."

He's heard bits and pieces of the event from news trickled into the city from locals, but most of it is a confusing jumble of mythology and traditions and mysticism. No, he'd much rather place his faith in science, instead of these stories about sacrifices and lost love.

From the corner of his eye, Professor Mihashi regards Tsumugu, whose face is a study in blankness, although there might be a slight tightening of his jaw, and his eyes keep flickering to his—_adoptive sister? Friend? Girlfriend?_ She and Atsushi, one of the professor's other students, seem to be getting on well, in the midst of what looks like an engaging discussion; Atsushi's hands are gesturing wildly.

"I wonder what they're talking about?" prods Professor Mihashi.

"Hm," Tsumugu responds noncommittally.

Across the room, Chisaki laughs at something Atsushi has said.

Tsumugu's gaze slides towards them again; this time Chisaki senses it and waves at him, eyes crinkling, before resuming her conversation.

"I'd better see what she needs," decides Tsumugu, setting down his marker. He makes his way towards Chisaki, as seemingly unruffled as ever, but Professor Mihashi doesn't miss the hand that Tsumugu places on the small of Chisaki's back when he greets her.

Neither does Atsushi, whose eyes take on a knowing gleam as he exclaims, "Took you about long enough to come over—thought I was going to have to keep her company for the rest of the afternoon. You get lost in your work too easily."

To which Chisaki giggles and sways a bit closer to Tsumugu, pulling a bundle out of her bag. "I brought you a present," she declares.

At his desk, Professor Mihashi chuckles and shakes his head.

* * *

**A/N: **So I'm slowly completing the prompts I received both here and on tumblr; so far I have seven and I'm looking to expand this drabble collection to 10 pieces, so a few more prompts are welcome! Any character or pairing. :) (up next is Hikari/Manaka)


	2. hold your breath

**Prompt:** breathe  
**Pairing:** Hikari/Manaka

* * *

"Hii-kun, stay still!" huffs Manaka, adjusting his tie. Hikari pulls at his collar, gaze sliding away from her, his mouth puckered in a frown.

From farther off, they hear Sayu's disgruntled "What's _with_ you?" and Kaname's airy laugh.

Hikari's fingers wrap around hers, pulling her hand away. "It's fine, Manaka."

"Oh, all right." She sighs and settles back onto the balls of her feet, scooping up her bag from the ground. Kaname and Sayu catch up from behind, Miuna passing them all, her sneakers slapping against the ground.

"What's the hurry?" complains Hikari.

Miuna laughs. "Come on, slowpokes!"

"Miuna-chan, wait!" Manaka starts to follow, but Hikari and Miuna have already raced far ahead.

From her shoulder, Kaname speaks. "You two are still the same, huh."

Manaka blinks, startled, and looks towards him—Sayu is off to the side, pretending not to be listening. "What do you mean?"

"You and Hikari. I mean, you'd think that with everything that's happened…" Kaname closes his eyes and shakes his head, sighing good-naturedly. "But some things never change, do they?"

Manaka tilts her head, considering. It's true that things haven't progressed much between her and Hikari—through no fault of their own, but simply because their feelings for each other have always been an unspoken truth. Loving Hikari is like breathing, so natural she forgets about it, sometimes.

"What should I do?" she suddenly worries, hands coming up to cover her cheeks.

Kaname chuckles. Up ahead, Hikari has bent over, panting, stopping to look over his shoulder at them.

"Nothing," Kaname smiles knowingly. "You don't have to do anything."

o.O.o

Manaka decides not to take his advice. In the hallways before they part to go to their respective classes, she grabs Hikari's hand, sandwiching it between her palms. Hikari goes red immediately, a confused and panicked expression crossing his face.

"M-Manaka?"

"Have a nice day, Hii-kun!" she wishes, bouncing forward on her toes towards him. She plants a quick kiss on his cheek without thinking much of it, because Akari does it all the time.

Hikari makes a small, flustered sound in the back of his throat. It reminds her, for some reason, of a pufferfish right before it inflates. She giggles.

"What's with you today?" he grumbles, rubbing his cheek.

"You held your breath."

"Did not!"

"Did too!" sings Manaka, and goes on her merry way.

* * *

**A/N:** I just imagine these two being adorable dorks and Manaka initiating everything because she's so affectionate and innocent and Hikari is awkward and doesn't know what to do and pretends not to like it but secretly he's rejoicing XD


	3. the future at our fingertips

**Prompt:** Kiss  
**Pairing:** Chisaki/Tsumugu

* * *

Chisaki has grown up knowing the shine of Ena all her life, the silvery sheen it casts over skin when the light hits it a certain way. It looks different on Tsumugu—his skin darker, not porcelain like hers, and she finds herself studying him as they amble through Shioshishio.

She can sense his heartbeat through his fingertips, entwined with hers, and she wonders if it's faster because of their proximity or because they're in the city he has dreamed of seeing for so long. Knowing Tsumugu, it's probably a combination of both.

They reach her house, finally, and although Chisaki isn't used to seeing Tsumugu nervous—hasn't ever recalled a time, really—she senses a slight uncertainty in his voice when he asks, "What have you told them about me, exactly?"

"Only good things, I promise," Chisaki smiles, squeezing his hand.

Tsumugu presses his lips together and nods. He starts to untangle their fingers, ready to meet her parents properly, and Chisaki feels a burst of pride. There is so much spread out before them, a whole future she'd never considered because she was too embroiled in the past, but now it opens before her, shimmering and wide.

Midway, Tsumugu seems to reconsider and turns back to her, fingers threading through her hair, mouth angling towards hers. She smiles against his lips.

This is a different kind of shining. Tsumugu's touch leaves sparkles in its wake, her skin tingling as the pads of his thumbs trace patterns over her cheeks.

"For luck," he says when they break apart, and though she has never felt short of breath underwater before, thanks to her Ena, she feels a little dizzy now.

A fish darts between them. Tsumugu laughs and Chisaki begins to laugh too, and then her mother is opening the door and wondering, _"Well, aren't you going to come in?"_ and Chisaki watches Tsumugu's skin gleam and thinks, _so this is what happiness feels like._

* * *

**A/N**: Kaname/Sayu up next! :)


	4. piece by piece

**Pairing:** Kaname/Sayu  
**A/N:** For Mossface12 [not _quite_ what you wanted; sorry, blergh, but I hope you still like it. :) ]

* * *

Sayu is used to spitting her words out like broken glass. Not with any intention to hurt people, but simply because her voice so often cracks alongside her emotions, goes wobbly and jagged without meaning to. It is a traitorous voice, but she works on honing it.

Where she is sharp, Kaname is soft. His voice soothes like water, rings with forgiveness. (She thinks she wants to listen to it for the rest of her life, then scolds herself because that's just _silly._)

Still, she wonders if he notices. Late at night, Sayu thinks about what their first fight would be like. Will Kaname go quiet, like the sky right before a storm? Will he just stand there while she batters down his hatches the same way the wind howls through a lonely night?

(Worse: what if he just walks away?)

She isn't selfless-with-love like Miuna or bubbly like Manaka or tender like Chisaki; she's Sayu, with a tongue like a sea-snake when she wants it to be. But…

But around Kaname, she becomes something softer. A little less flame. A little more fluid. A little…_girl._

(Which she'd never say out loud, and she hates to admit even in her head.)

As she peers out over the edge of Tsumugu's boat, a familiar, moonlight-silver head rises to the surface, bursting through the waves. Kaname reaches up and she and Tsumugu haul him onboard, where he brushes a thumb against Sayu's cheek fleetingly.

"You're sunburned," Kaname observes, head tilted to the side.

"And _you're_ late!" Sayu replies, hands on her hips and cheeks flaring.

His laughter is like sunlight, and Sayu knows that broken glass under that kind of shine will always be beautiful.

(Besides, she wasn't going to dull herself because of some _boy._)


	5. like ships in the night

**Prompt:** Sleeping together  
**Pairing: **Chisaki/Tsumugu  
**A/N:** Have some kinda angsty elderly!Tsusaki because I'm a terrible person.

* * *

_Remember when you were my boat and I was your sea?  
Together we'd float so delicately  
~_Fireworks, You Me at Six

* * *

_It's been a good life,_ Tsumugu thinks as he and Chisaki move through the house, their joints creaking like two old ships. They buried Isamu years and years ago. Tsumugu remembers he and Chisaki holding each other, her ear pressed against his chest as she spoke through tears: _"We're still here." _And every night after, lying next to each other in bed because the house was too big and too empty to sleep separately anymore. Every night after, her head on his chest, her finger drawing swirls across his shoulders. _"We're still here."_

They're too old now for their usual position—Chisaki's head a little too heavy, Tsumugu's chest a little too frail—but they still lie side by side at night. Chisaki's breath rattles a little through her nose when she sleeps, but Tsumugu puts up with it. And she always reaches for him under the covers, her knobby, worn fingers wrapping around his. One night, she'd whispered: "Can you promise me something?"

"What?" he'd asked, turning on his side achingly, painfully slow.

"Don't die first." Her voice was plaintive. "I can't bear to be left behind again."

"I won't," he'd promised, squeezing her hand.

As he lies on his back, one hand interlaced with Chisaki's, one hand resting on his chest, he counts the spaces between her breaths. It's a habit he's developed over the years; it soothes him, reminds him of wind filling sails. _In, out. In, out._ Usually he falls asleep a short while after Chisaki drifts off, but tonight—

Tonight, she blinks at him with her watery blue eyes, squinting in the dim light. "Tsumugu?" she murmurs, half-awake.

"Here." He turns his head towards her, smiling.

She curls on her side towards him, her wrinkled cheek pressed against the pillow. White has taken over nearly all of her hair, save for a few purple streaks left, and Tsumugu reaches out to curl one around his finger. Every movement takes ages for the two of them, like pushing through layers of water, and Tsumugu feels his throat grow tight.

He is tired—so, so tired.

Chisaki's eyelids flutter closed again. "Go to sleep," she whispers, squeezing his arm.

"I'm trying," chuckles Tsumugu.

o.O.o

In the morning, his spine decompresses uncomfortably as he sits up, stretching his stiff limbs.

He moves to rouse Chisaki, but stops.

Tsumugu has watched her chest rise and fall, as constant as the waves down by the docks, for years. But on this early morning, she is still. Even before he leans over to listen for her heartbeat, he knows exactly what he will hear.

In the end, Tsumugu muses, he kept his promise—it was Chisaki who left him behind.


	6. where the waves go

**Prompt: **origins  
**A/N:** sibling love and Miuna love and some Hikari&Miuna angst. For TheRoseShadow21. :)

* * *

Akira looks just like her. Miuna marvels at it, because only half of them comes from the same person, but there he is, black hair and sea-green eyes. She falls asleep next to his baby basket a lot, and when he's finally calm enough to lie in her arms without squirming, she falls asleep curled around him in bed.

She wants to tell him about the sea. About where their mom came from—this time, there's no distinction in her head between her real mom and Akari. She just wants Akira to know about their half-home. Can you even have a half a home? Miuna isn't sure. She just knows that a part of her always feels on foreign soil while she walks on land, and she wonders if it'd be any different if she walked the streets of the sea village. Akira's too young to understand, though, so instead of voicing any of those thoughts, Miuna tells him about Hikari.

"You would have liked him," she whispers, poking Akira's stomach. Akira just giggles, grabbing at her finger with his chubby hands. "He was nice and brave and strong and lots of fun."

o.O.o

She has Ena and she _sparkles_ with it, because here is proof that she belongs to the sea, just like Hikari, just like her mom. She wants to soak in it until she becomes pruny, although she knows that will no longer happen. At last, she can be close to everything she loves; at last, she can see her loved ones' home and make it her own.

Only that, in the end, doesn't bring her any closer to Hikari. She watches his face go stormy and heartbroken around Manaka and tries not to cry, swallowing the truth like a bitter pearl: just because she has Ena doesn't mean she belongs in Hikari's arms. Just because they come from the same place doesn't mean they're headed the same direction. Some nights she wants to scream, but instead she stares at the ceiling wondering: _Where do I fit in, then? Where do I go?_

o.O.o

Miuna wonders if Akira can swim in the ocean, too. She wants to show him all of it: how the mystifying, frightening depths can shelter something beautiful, how things are buried but never lost, how love hurts like salt in a wound but at the same time heals, knitting cuts back together.

Some days, she looks at the water and aches. Other days she doesn't. With time, Miuna knows they'll level out as she moves on for good. She still loves Hikari, but in a different way, more like a boat rocking gently and less like waves hurling themselves against the shore. Akira, on the other hand, continues to hide his face when Manaka comes around, but Miuna knows he'll grow out of it. He'll find another pair of pretty eyes to explore.

In the meantime, she takes him down to the pier, holding his hand tightly so he won't slip. They throw pebbles into the water and Akira laughs at their splashes, and Miuna waits and watches for a sign that soon it'll be okay for him to splash in the water, too.

o.O.o

Shioshishio, once bustling, is beautiful. Akira settles in happily—some days, Miuna struggles to drag him back on land for dinner. They straddle the two worlds now, sea and surface, just like Chisaki, Hikari, Kaname and the others. Sayu teases her about having a brain full of seaweed when she zones out in class but accompanies her to the pond when Miuna needs to moisten her skin all the same, and the two of them flick water droplets at each other with their toes. Akari cooks dinner. Miuna tries to coax Akira into eating his vegetables while he scrambles away, using his arms as if they'll propel him faster through the air like they do in the water.

And Miuna starts to understand that home isn't about where she comes from, but the people around her.


End file.
